High Counter Vs Low Counter Summary

Before it became the “New World,” as it was titled by Europeans, the Americas were vastly more populous than has been previously thought- possibly upwards of 18 million. “High Counters” and “Low Counters”, whose names are associated with their predicted population counts, argue whether or not this is in fact the case. The argument has strong implications on the history of the Americas before the Europeans. In Charles C. Mann’s 2002 article for the Atlantic magazine titled 1491, he proposes that, based on the suggestions of the high counters, that the Amazon rain forest’s fascinating landscape is an artificial creation of a massive society prior to Columbus’ arrival.
Mann’s overall thesis can be summed up as so: the massive populations of the Americas allowed the societies to develop their environment to aid their own circumstances; one of the major effects of their strategies allowed lush areas of the forest to grow in areas they had previously occupied and

One argument was that the numbers were fabricated in order to increase anti-American sentiment. Another argument against the numbers is that minute changes- such as a 1% increase or decrease in the death rates of the diseases- would massively impact results, and as such it is difficult to ascertain the high numbers. A third point is that the Native Americans used disposable materials to build, and as such there is no trace to follow to find how many were there.
The arguments between low and high counters show a lot about the field of history. The argument has gained some traction due to it being fascinating, but more so because of the political and ecological implications of either side; for example, if the high counters are correct, what should be kept; the natural rain forest created from remains of what Native Americans left, or the plains that Native Americans created to begin with? Concerns such as these make the answer prioritized in the